19-Year-Old Alleges Videogame Defendants Designed Games to Be Addictive

Nineteen-year-old Michael Antonetti spends about 12 hours a day playing seven Call of Duty games, plus Fortnite, Minecraft and others, said his videogame addiction complaint Friday (docket 1:24-cv-02019) against more than a dozen videogame hardware and software companies in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta.

The Gwinnett County, Georgia, resident, who began playing videogames at age 11, has been diagnosed with “worsening” attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety due to videogame addiction, the complaint said. Antonetti has continued to play videogames at “an increasing and uncontrollable pace,” it said. As a result of the gaming addiction, Antonetti requires treatment, including out-patient counseling and medication therapy, it said.

The defendants, which include Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, Ubisoft, Mojang Studios, Microsoft, Nintendo and John Doe, individually and collectively, “have willfully and knowingly engaged in fraudulent, deceptive, unfair, immoral, outrageous, wanton, and reckless behavior” that damaged Antonetti, said the complaint.

Antonetti plays games across multiple platforms, including Xbox One, a gaming PC and Nintendo Switch, the complaint said. He can't refrain from gameplay and spending money while using the defendants’ products, it said. He suffers from anxiety, internet gaming disorder, sleep deprivation, and has experienced inability to limit game playing time, lack of interest in and loss of friends, social isolation, change in eating patterns, and withdrawal symptoms, such as anger, cursing and physical outbursts, alleged the complaint. As a result of his addition, Antonetti is taking medication for anxiety and withdrawal symptoms, it said.

The defendants manufactured, published, marketed, and sold videogames and gaming products, including those played by Antonetti, which the defendants had “specifically developed and designed to cause the addiction” experienced by Antonetti, alleged the complaint. Activision and others use traditional game tactics such as feedback loops and reward systems, plus additive features and technology “to ensure its users keep playing longer and spending more on ‘microtransactions’ within the game,” said the complaint. Microtransactions increase profits for individual games, it said.

Videogame companies make their games addictive, in part, by “encouraging long-term, extended game play despite knowledge that such extended play causes physical harm to the human brain,” said the complaint. By making games addictive, defendants can “maximize profits after the original purchase or free download,” and the defendants offer “significant opportunity to purchase downloadable game products” or microtransactions to “allegedly give players an advantage in the game,” it said.

By keeping minors and young adults playing longer -- and spending more money in the game in the process -- the defendants are causing “physical and mental harm to users while consistently increasing their revenue,” the complaint said. By acquiring and addicting videogame users at a young age, the defendants “are securing their profit stream by ensuring future engagement and monetization” as the players age, it said.

Videogame companies “are exploiting consumers, particularly minors and young adults, with unfair, unconscionable, and deceptive trade practices and conduct that prioritizes gamer engagement and spending over gamer safety,” alleged the complaint. Their “intentional, negligent, deceptive, fraudulent, willful, immoral, reckless, and unlawful acts proximately caused” Antonetti’s brain damage and gaming addiction, it said.

The 16-count complaint asserts several claims of liability and negligence; intentional infliction of emotional distress; fraudulent misrepresentation, concealment and inducement; and civil conspiracy. Antonetti seeks compensatory, actual and punitive damages; injunctive relief; attorneys’ fees and costs; plus pre- and post-judgment interest.